Soap-making device for processing coffee grounds

Abstract

The present invention discloses a soap-making device for processing coffee grounds, comprising a housing and a controller. The housing is provided with a soap base feeding module, a coffee grounds feeding module, a stirring module, a conveying module, a carving module, and a demolding module, all controlled by the controller. The stirring module includes a mixing reaction chamber and a double-layer stirrer disposed within the mixing reaction chamber. A soap base outlet at the bottom of the soap base feeding module and a coffee grounds outlet at the bottom of the coffee grounds feeding module are respectively connected to a feed inlet at the top of the mixing reaction chamber via pipes, and a nozzle is disposed at the discharge outlet at the bottom of the mixing reaction chamber. The conveying module includes a drawer box having an annular guide rail disposed on its inner sidewall and a soap forming bin disposed within the drawer box and slidably fixed to the guide rail. The drawer box is divided into a cooling zone, an uphill zone, and a carving zone according to the bottom height. The carving module is disposed in the carving zone. While reducing the size of the device, the present invention achieves full automation of the soap-making process, including pretreatment, mixing, soap forming, carving, and demolding.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the field of coffee grounds recycling, and in particular relates to a soap-making device for processing coffee grounds. Background Art

[0002] Currently, the processing technology of coffee grounds is moving in two directions. On the one hand, large-scale centralized processing is adopted, but the process is complicated, the manpower and material resources consumed are large, it is not universal and feasible, and most of them need to be recycled and processed in a centralized manner, which increases transportation costs. On the other hand, the main research is on small-scale decentralized processing, but this type of processing often has a low utilization rate and cannot fully develop the superior performance of coffee grounds.

[0003] Coffee grounds are used as raw materials for homemade soap in some coffee shops. They are made into coffee ground homemade soap through hand-cold process. Currently, some handmade soap workshops also use the cold process to make this type of soap.

[0004] However, when using coffee grounds to make soap, the current market focuses on the setting of the process flow, and the formula for making coffee soap is relatively simple.

[0005] For example, Chinese patent document CN103732366A discloses a method for processing molded products using coffee grounds. The coffee grounds are collected from coffee shops and subjected to a drying, classification, and crushing process. The processed coffee grounds are then mixed with purified water and a binder and placed in a fixed mold, thereby being press-molded into various shapes, including a cubic shape, to obtain soap.

[0006] Chinese patent document CN111304025A discloses a method for making soap by recycling fermentation materials from coffee grounds, comprising the following steps: (1) pretreatment of coffee grounds, (2) primary sterilization, (3) inoculation, (4) fermentation, (5) secondary sterilization, (6) weighing of raw materials, (7) preparation of soap solution, (8) preparation of soap blanks, and (9) preparation of finished soap products.

[0007] On the other hand, the existing machines for making soap from coffee grounds are quite large, and there are currently no small or medium-sized, automated, and integrated soft and hard machines. Furthermore, existing custom soap products on the market primarily rely on model engraving and handcrafting, requiring additional engraving steps after the soap is manufactured, resulting in high customization costs. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present invention provides a soap-making device for processing coffee grounds, which realizes full-process automation of soap-making processes such as pretreatment, mixing, soap forming, carving, and demoulding while reducing the volume.

[0009] A soap-making device for processing coffee grounds comprises a housing and a controller, wherein the housing is provided with a soap base feeding module, a coffee grounds feeding module, a stirring module, a conveying module, a carving module and a demoulding module controlled by the controller;

[0010] The stirring module comprises a mixing reaction chamber and a double-layer stirrer arranged in the mixing reaction chamber, and a stirring motor for driving the double-layer stirrer is provided on the upper part of the mixing reaction chamber;

[0011] The soap base outlet at the bottom of the soap base feeding module and the coffee grounds outlet at the bottom of the coffee grounds feeding module are respectively connected to the feed inlet at the upper end of the mixing reaction chamber through pipes, and the discharge outlet at the bottom of the mixing reaction chamber is provided with a nozzle;

[0012] The conveying module includes a drawer box with an annular guide rail on its inner wall and a soap forming bin arranged in the drawer box and slidably fixed to the guide rail. The drawer box is divided into a cooling area, an uphill area, and a carving area according to the bottom height. The cooling area is provided with a guide groove for the flow of cooling water.

[0013] The soap forming bin receives the soap liquid sprayed by the nozzle in the cooling area and cools it into shape, and then transports it from the uphill area to the carving area along the guide rail; the carving module is arranged in the carving area, and is used to carve the surface of the soap body in the soap forming bin; the demoulding module is used to demould the soap body from the soap forming bin.

[0014] Furthermore, the soap base feeding module includes a soap base pretreatment chamber, the top of the soap base pretreatment chamber is provided with a soap base feed port, and the bottom is provided with a soap base outlet; the inner bottom surface of the soap base pretreatment chamber is provided with a magnetic annular heating plate, which preheats the soap base or soap base liquid by rotation.

[0015] Furthermore, the coffee grounds feeding module includes a coffee grounds pretreatment chamber, which is provided with a coffee grounds feed port, a filter, a ventilation duct, an electric grinding disc, a slit and a coffee grounds outlet from top to bottom; wherein, the ventilation duct is provided with a micro fan with an air outlet facing downward, which is used to blow air downward so that the coffee grounds flow downward; the electric grinding disc is used to grind the coffee grounds into a colloidal state through rotation and heating; the slit is matched with the electric grinding disc, and the downward hot air breaks up and dries the coffee grounds, and then passes through the slit to reach the coffee grounds outlet.

[0016] Furthermore, the output end of the stirring motor is connected to the double-layer stirrer through an elastic spiral bearing.

[0017] Furthermore, the annular guide rail on the inner side wall of the drawer box includes an upper guide rail and a lower guide rail arranged horizontally; wherein the upper guide rail is provided with a rack, and the lower guide rail is provided with a horizontal slide groove;

[0018] The bottom of the soap forming bin is provided with a roller, and the side wall is provided with a vertically arranged spherical chute structure and a ball rod connector that cooperates with the spherical chute structure; the spherical end of the ball rod connector is slidably arranged in the spherical chute structure, and the straight rod end of the ball rod connector is fixed to the lower part of the E-shaped connector;

[0019] The lower part of the E-shaped connector is provided with a slider that cooperates with the horizontal slide groove of the lower guide rail, the middle part is provided with a gear structure that meshes with the rack of the upper guide rail, and the upper part is provided with a micro motor connected to the gear structure; the micro motor drives the gear structure to rotate, so that the ball rod connector drives the soap bin to realize up and down slope and circular movement along the circular track on the inner wall of the drawer box.

[0020] Furthermore, the engraving module adopts a small CNC engraving machine based on GRBL, and uses a stepper motor to drive a coupling and a lead screw to realize the transmission of movement and positioning from motor rotation to the X, Y, and Z three-axis directions, thereby ensuring the accuracy of engraving.

[0021] Furthermore, the soap making bin is a cylindrical structure, comprising a barrel and a magnetic bottom plate matched with the barrel;

[0022] The demoulding module includes a fixed platform arranged in the carving area for fixing the soap bin and a demoulding device for pushing the magnetic bottom plate upward to demould the soap body. The demoulding device demoulds by driving the screw rod up and down through a motor.

[0023] Furthermore, the controller is used to accurately control the working process and working temperature in the soap base feeding module, the coffee grounds feeding module, and the stirring module, as well as to control the temperature of the cooling zone in the conveying module, so as to ensure the efficiency and stability of soap making; at the same time, the controller controls the soap making bin to move from the cooling zone along the guide rail to the uphill zone and the carving zone in sequence, controls the carving module to carve the surface of the soap body in the soap making bin, and controls the demolding module to demold the soap body from the soap making bin.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0025] 1. The present invention realizes the automation of the whole soap making process including pretreatment, mixing, soap making, carving, demoulding, etc. while realizing the miniaturization of the device through structural design.

[0026] 2. The present invention features a compact structure, employing a sliding mechanical guide rail. The meshing of a gear structure and a rack enables forward gear movement. Because the E-shaped connector is secured to the ball-bar connector, the driving force generated by the micromotor on the E-shaped connector drives the soap hopper along the guide rail. The spherical end of the ball-bar connector engages a spherical chute structure, enabling relative rotation between the ball-bar connector and the soap hopper, as well as simultaneous up and down movement. The translational motion of the ball-bar connector drives the soap hopper up and down slopes, as well as in a circular motion.

[0027] 3. In the present invention, flowing cooling water is directly used in the cooling zone to cool and shape the soap liquid in the soap forming chamber, resulting in a rapid cooling rate. By controlling the movement speed of the soap forming chamber, the soap body can be cooled to a solid state suitable for carving before entering the carving zone. In addition, the provision of an uphill zone creates a height difference between the cooling zone and the carving zone, achieving a dry and wet separation effect.

[0028] 4. The present invention controls the working process and working temperature of each module through a controller, uses a plurality of reaction chambers separated and the circuit automatically controls the operation mode, and optimizes the soap making path; under the premise of ensuring the stability of the hot soap liquid, the fully enclosed soap making process reduces the consumption of the soap base therein, thereby reducing the soap making expenses. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 This is an overall schematic diagram of a soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to the present invention;

[0030] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the interior of the delivery module of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 3 It is a front cross-sectional view of the conveying module in the present invention;

[0032] Figure 4 A side sectional view of the conveying module of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the soap storage bin and the spherical chute in the conveying module of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of an E-type connector in a conveying module of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 7 The motor control process of the engraving machine in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 8 This is the source code flow for controlling the engraving machine based on GRBL in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 9 Flowchart of a soap making device according to an embodiment of the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be noted that the following examples are intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and do not have any limiting effect on the present invention.

[0039] A soap-making device for processing coffee grounds mainly comprises a housing and a controller. The housing is provided with a soap base feeding module, a coffee grounds feeding module, a stirring module, a conveying module 12, a carving module and a demoulding module controlled by the controller.

[0040] Specifically, such as Figure 1 As shown, the soap base feeding module includes a soap base pretreatment chamber, the top of the soap base pretreatment chamber is provided with a soap base feeding port with a flip cover 1, and the lower part is provided with a soap base outlet; the inner bottom surface of the soap base pretreatment chamber is provided with a magnetic annular heating plate 2, which preheats the soap base or soap base liquid by rotation.

[0041] The coffee grounds feeding module includes a coffee grounds pretreatment chamber, which, from top to bottom, is equipped with a coffee grounds feed inlet 5, a filter 6, a ventilation duct 7, an electric grinding disc 8, a slit 9, and a coffee grounds outlet. A downward-facing micro-blower is installed in the ventilation duct 7, blowing air downward to circulate the coffee grounds downward. The electric grinding disc 8 rotates, heats, and grinds the coffee grounds into a colloidal state. The slit 9 is compatible with the electric grinding disc 8, allowing downward hot air to break up and dry the coffee grounds before passing through the slit 9 and reaching the coffee grounds outlet.

[0042] The stirring module includes a mixing reaction chamber and a double-layer stirrer 10 arranged in the mixing reaction chamber. A stirring motor 3 is provided on the upper part of the mixing reaction chamber. The output end of the stirring motor 3 is connected to the double-layer stirrer 10 through an elastic spiral bearing 4.

[0043] The soap base outlet at the bottom of the soap base feeding module and the coffee grounds outlet at the bottom of the coffee grounds feeding module are connected to the feed port at the top of the mixing reaction chamber via pipes. The discharge port at the bottom of the mixing reaction chamber is equipped with a nozzle. The upper end 14 of the pressure nozzle ensures uniform and stable soap liquid by varying the pressure applied on both sides, while the lower end 13 of the nozzle sprays a stable soap liquid.

[0044] like Figures 2 to 6 As shown, the conveying module 12 includes a drawer box 21 with an annular guide rail on the inner wall and a soap forming bin 18 arranged in the drawer box 21 and slidingly fixed with the guide rail; the drawer box 21 is divided into a cooling area 24, an uphill area 25 and a carving area 26 according to the bottom height; the cooling area 24 is paved with a guide groove for the flow of cooling water.

[0045] The annular guide rail on the inner side wall of the drawer box 21 includes an upper guide rail 22 and a lower guide rail 23 arranged horizontally; wherein, a rack is provided on the upper guide rail 22, and a horizontal slide groove is provided on the lower guide rail 23.

[0046] The bottom of the soap making bin 18 is provided with a roller, and the side wall is provided with a vertically arranged spherical chute structure 19 and a ball rod connector 27 that cooperates with the spherical chute structure 19; the spherical end of the ball rod connector 27 can be slid up and down in the spherical chute structure 19, and the straight rod end of the ball rod connector 27 is fixed to the lower base plate 205 of the E-type connector 20.

[0047] like Figure 6 As shown, the lower base plate 205 of the E-type connector 20 is provided with a slider that cooperates with the horizontal slide groove of the lower guide rail 23, the middle mounting plate 203 is provided with a gear structure 204 that meshes with the rack of the upper guide rail 22, and the upper top plate 201 is provided with a micro motor 202 connected to the gear structure; the micro motor 202 drives the gear structure 204 to rotate, so that the ball rod connector 27 moves along the annular guide rail, thereby driving the soap bin 18 along the annular track of the inner wall of the drawer box 21 from the cooling area 24, the uphill area 25 to the carving area 26, and then downhill back to the cooling area 24.

[0048] In the conveying module 12 of the present invention, the gear structure 204 meshes with the rack of the upper guide rail 22 to achieve forward gear movement. Because the E-shaped connector 20 is fixed to the ball-bar connector 27, the driving force generated by the micromotor 202 on the E-shaped connector 20 can drive the soap forming bin 18 along the guide rail. The spherical end of the ball-bar connector 27 engages the spherical chute structure 19, allowing the ball-bar connector 27 and the soap forming bin 18 to rotate relative to each other and simultaneously move up and down. The translational motion of the ball-bar connector 27 drives the soap forming bin 18 to achieve up and down slopes and circular motion.

[0049] The soap forming bin 18 receives the soap liquid sprayed from the lower nozzle 13 in the cooling area 24 and cools and shapes it, and then transports it from the uphill area 25 to the carving area 26 along the guide rail.

[0050] In the embodiment of the present invention, the soap forming bin 18 is a cylindrical structure, including a barrel and a magnetic bottom plate matched with the barrel.

[0051] like Figure 1 As shown, the engraving module is arranged in the engraving area, and includes an engraving machine 15 for engraving the surface of the soap body in the soap storage bin 18 .

[0052] The demoulding module includes a fixed platform 16 provided in the engraving area for fixing the soap bin and a demoulding device 17 for pushing the magnetic bottom plate upward to demould the soap body. In the embodiment of the present invention, the demoulding device 17 uses a motor to drive the screw rod up and down for demoulding.

[0053] In order to realize the engraving function of coffee soap in a small space, the present invention designs a small CNC engraving machine based on GRBL, which uses a stepper motor to drive the coupling and lead screw to realize the transmission of motor rotation to the movement and positioning in the X, Y, and Z directions, ensuring the engraving accuracy.

[0054] Since the control object is relatively simple, the main control chip of the electronic control system in the system adopts ATmega328, an 8-bit CPU, including 32kB Flash, 2kB SRAM and 1kB EEPROM. The power source includes the spindle high-speed motor and the three-axis motion control motor. Their operating voltage can be 12V. The spindle motor operating voltage can be increased to 24V. The operating voltage of the single-chip computer board includes 5V and 3.3V. The motor control process of the engraving machine is as follows Figure 7 shown.

[0055] GRBL is an open source code for embedded G-code compilation and motion controller from Germany. It can parse the CNC G-code generated by mainstream CNC software and realize the motion control of the three-axis stepper motor and the spindle of the CNC machine tool. The motion control of the engraving machine in this project is essentially to parse the G-code through the lower computer and control the stepper motor to transmit the motion to the spindle and lead screw through the coupling. G-code is the core of NC code, and NC code is a CNC software output format used by the lower computer to parse and execute. It contains all the information required for the actual processing of the engraving machine, that is, the engraving process sequence, motion trajectory and orientation, process parameters and auxiliary functions. The GRBL control source code process is as follows Figure 8 shown.

[0056] like Figure 9 As shown, a process of soap making using the soap making device of the present invention is as follows:

[0057] The process of making coffee soap mainly involves grinding coffee grounds, preheating the soap base, mixing and rotating heating, pouring the hot soap liquid into molds, cooling, carving, and demolding.

[0058] Coffee grounds grinding: Freshly collected coffee grounds (20g for example) are poured into the coffee grounds pre-treatment chamber of the coffee grounds feeding module and then hot pressed and ground at 75 degrees Celsius until the coffee grounds are pre-ground into a gelatinous state that can flow into the mixing module.

[0059] Soap base preheating: 300g of self-developed soap base is poured into the soap base pretreatment chamber of the soap base feeding module. While the coffee grounds are being ground, the soap base is preheated at 80 degrees Celsius to accelerate subsequent reactions. The entire soap-making process is time-optimized, using a self-developed algorithm to optimize the soap-making logic, ensuring the soap-making process is completed within 10-15 minutes, achieving instant conversion.

[0060] Mixed Rotary Heating: The ground coffee grounds and preheated soap base flow into the mixing reaction chamber of the stirring module and are heated together at 90 degrees Celsius and 600 rpm. The whole process can be completed within 5 minutes.

[0061] Hot soap liquid pouring into the mold: the nozzle pours the hot soap liquid that has been heated into the soap chamber and rotates to condense.

[0062] Cooling: After the soap body is initially formed, it is placed in the lower cooling chamber for cooling to meet the requirements of subsequent carving.

[0063] Carving and demoulding: The cooled soap body is sent to the carving area through the conveying module for carving and demoulding.

[0064] Compared with the current processing technology for coffee grounds and compared with large-scale centralized processing, the device of the present invention is small in size and occupies a small area, realizing "point-to-point processing" of coffee grounds and reducing transportation costs; compared with small-scale decentralized processing, it gets rid of the dilemma of small workshops and high manual labor, and further thoroughly develops the superior performance of coffee grounds.

[0065] Currently used household handmade soap making machines generally have a low degree of automation, large samples, and rarely integrate the functions of preheating and soap making. The device of the present invention focuses on miniaturization and automation design; uses multiple reaction chambers for separation and circuit automatic control operation mode to optimize the soap making path; while ensuring the stability of the hot soap liquid, the fully enclosed soap making process reduces the consumption of the soap base therein, thereby reducing the cost of soap making.

[0066] The engraving module in this invention uses a three-axis stepper motor linkage, which can accurately move the spindle motor to the specified position for a given input command. The main effect of this design is to ensure the accuracy of engraving customized patterns, thereby meeting the functional requirements of users using this device to engrave coffee soap.

[0067] The embodiments described above provide a detailed description of the technical solutions and beneficial effects of the present invention. It should be understood that the above are only specific embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, supplements and equivalent substitutions made within the scope of the principles of the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A soap making device for processing coffee grounds, characterized in that: It includes a box body and a controller, wherein the box body is provided with a soap base feeding module, a coffee grounds feeding module, a stirring module, a conveying module, a carving module and a demoulding module controlled by the controller; The stirring module comprises a mixing reaction chamber and a double-layer stirrer arranged in the mixing reaction chamber, and a stirring motor for driving the double-layer stirrer is provided on the upper part of the mixing reaction chamber; The soap base outlet at the bottom of the soap base feeding module and the coffee grounds outlet at the bottom of the coffee grounds feeding module are respectively connected to the feed inlet at the upper end of the mixing reaction chamber through pipes, and the discharge outlet at the bottom of the mixing reaction chamber is provided with a nozzle; The conveying module includes a drawer box with an annular guide rail on its inner wall and a soap forming bin arranged in the drawer box and slidably fixed to the guide rail. The drawer box is divided into a cooling area, an uphill area, and a carving area according to the bottom height. The cooling area is provided with a guide groove for the flow of cooling water. The annular guide rail on the inner wall of the drawer box includes an upper guide rail and a lower guide rail arranged horizontally; wherein, a rack is provided on the upper guide rail, and a horizontal slide groove is provided on the lower guide rail; the bottom of the soap forming bin is provided with a roller, and the side wall is provided with a vertically arranged ball slide groove structure and a ball rod connector that cooperates with the ball slide groove structure; the spherical end of the ball rod connector can be slid up and down in the ball slide groove structure, and the straight rod end of the ball rod connector is fixed to the lower part of the E-shaped connector; the lower part of the E-shaped connector is provided with a slider that cooperates with the horizontal slide groove of the lower guide rail, the middle part is provided with a gear structure that meshes with the rack of the upper guide rail, and the upper part is provided with a micro motor connected to the gear structure; the micro motor drives the gear structure to rotate, so that the ball rod connector drives the soap forming bin to realize up and down slope and circular movement along the annular track of the inner wall of the drawer box; The soap forming bin receives the soap liquid sprayed by the nozzle in the cooling area and cools it into shape, and then transports it from the uphill area to the carving area along the guide rail; the carving module is arranged in the carving area, and is used to carve the surface of the soap body in the soap forming bin; the demoulding module is used to demould the soap body from the soap forming bin.

2. The soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The soap base feeding module includes a soap base pretreatment chamber, the top of which is provided with a soap base feed port, and the bottom is provided with a soap base outlet; the inner bottom surface of the soap base pretreatment chamber is provided with a magnetic annular heating plate, which preheats the soap base or soap base liquid by rotation.

3. The soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The coffee grounds feeding module includes a coffee grounds pretreatment chamber, which is provided with a coffee grounds feed port, a filter, a ventilation duct, an electric grinding disc, a slit and a coffee grounds outlet from top to bottom. The ventilation duct is provided with a micro fan with a downward air outlet for blowing air downward so that the coffee grounds flow downward. The electric grinding disc is used to grind the coffee grounds into a colloidal state through rotation and heating. The slit is matched with the electric grinding disc, and the downward hot air scatters and dries the coffee grounds, and then passes through the slit to reach the coffee grounds outlet.

4. The soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The output end of the stirring motor is connected to the double-layer stirrer through an elastic spiral bearing.

5. The soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The engraving module adopts a small CNC engraving machine based on GRBL, and uses a stepper motor to drive a coupling and a lead screw to realize the transmission of movement and positioning from motor rotation to the X, Y, and Z three-axis directions, thereby ensuring the accuracy of engraving.

6. The soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The soap making bin is a cylindrical structure, comprising a barrel and a magnetic bottom plate matched with the barrel; The demoulding module includes a fixed platform arranged in the carving area for fixing the soap bin and a demoulding device for pushing the magnetic bottom plate upward to demould the soap body. The demoulding device demoulds by driving the screw rod up and down through a motor.

7. The soap-making device for processing coffee grounds according to claim 1, characterized in that: The controller is used to accurately control the working process and working temperature of the soap base feeding module, the coffee grounds feeding module, and the stirring module, and to control the temperature of the cooling zone in the conveying module to ensure the efficiency and stability of soap making; at the same time, the controller controls the soap making bin to move from the cooling zone along the guide rail to the uphill zone and the carving zone in sequence, controls the carving module to carve the surface of the soap body in the soap making bin, and controls the demoulding module to demould the soap body from the soap making bin.

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